What do you guys think about the UN controlling the internet?
 

Quick thinking tells me it is better than the US.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/...edinternet.php

I probably don't know the ins and outs of it all, but to me it seems that allowing the U.N. to control this wacky internet thing would be a good idea. It sounds better than having us control it. ;) It could be just all of this past year's fear finally seeping into me, but I worry about the Net's future if it remains completely in our control.

When I walk my kids to school, we pass a sign on some old dude's lawn that reads "Keep America Free, Get us OUT of the U.N." That sort of thinking scares me and I've been tempted to kick the sign, but I really don't know what that type of thought is based on. So for now, the sign may remain.

Can you name one program the U.N. successfully administers? I think not. Just look at how the third world countries scoff at the U.N.'s human rights policies for one. Now imagine the U.N. controlled the internet and citizens of third world countries were stealing content and domains...just some food for thought :)

Having a world-wide network controlled by one country would be undemocratic. It would just become a bargaining chip used by a single side.

Then...Let's tax it!

I am just looking at the best of the two evils.

I would have said let the U.S. do it before the year 2000. Now I don't know.

They are both bad choices. I think they need to give us more options. :)

Sooner or later it will just be a way for every one to try and get back at each other.

Same here, after reading this Internet Safety and Child Protection Act of 2005 , I'm thinking we would be better off with the U.N. running the show.

And where would they receive their funding? From all the third world countries that can't even feed or house their own people?

This is a hard one to call. I don't trust anyone with total control. There's just too much room for corruption..

It comes down to having the UN control it, which means huge amounts of regulations or Religeous fanatics that believe the Earth is only 5,000 years old and against most forms of democracy.

Either way sooner or later they will find away for Walmart, Exxon and Haliburton to make all the money from it.

Could you picture Iran trying to run it! |shocking|

I would suggest one of the more progresive countries, but that would never fly!

I'd rather see UW run it!

|thumb

Who cares who runs it, the US will still go it's own way :)

Very true :)

Me too. |waves| As long as it doesn't involve much reading or techno-jargon, I'm willing to do it. |cool|

I have that same philosophy with stereo equipment |shocking|

Here is a response I made to this on another forum back in March...

I feel that if the UN were to become involved we would face the internet oppression that many countries face. If I recall correctly, China is one of the countries which actually restricts access to certain sites it feels are objectionable. If I want to look at some nudie pictures, then I should be able to without another countries government telling me what I can and can't see (as long as it is legal). This is probably one of the reasons many of the hackers and illegal stuff comes from these countries, is because of the oppression of their people!

I believe two thing that ties back to the US is that there is more of a market penetration (about 68.8% of US population uses the internet) with the US population even thought it has a smaller share of the world usage population compared to some parts of the world (http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm). Also, the fact that much of the early concept of the internet, and some of the first tests of the internet were made in the US (http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml) probably has something to do with it as well.
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And then a follow up to that post...

China tightens surveillance of Internet forums
March 2, 7:15 a.m. PST
The Chinese government has tightened surveillance of Internet chat rooms and discussion forums ahead of the annual National People's Congress (NPC) meeting, which begins March 5 in Beijing, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The NPC is China's highest legislative body. A major focus of this year's meeting is consideration of a draft antisecession law aimed at curbing Taiwanese moves toward formal independence. Chat rooms and discussion boards on popular Web sites have been assigned security guards responsible for monitoring the content of messages and postings during the NPC session, Xinhua said. Messages submitted by users will be filtered and censored before appearing online. In an effort to boost control over the Internet during the NPC meeting, officials from China's Ministry of Public Security met with executives from local Internet service providers, major Web sites, and Internet cafe chains, Xinhua reported. The report did not specify how long these added Internet control measures will remain in place

Do you really want these people telling you what you can and can't do on the internet?

Let Australia run it.

The internet would run through a server box thingo in someones shed, while the tech suport team would be at the pub. Problem solved.

-N

Not very much considering the U.N.'s record on everything else! |barf|